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HelpRe: Madison
in reply to a message by Lily
It's nms but not bad. It sounds so much like Alison and Madeline that I think it works as a first name, as well as Robin or Kelsey does. I disliked it for a while because of the movie Splash that I think was responsible for almost all its eventual popularity. The character is insulting and not a good namesake, and the name just seemed to try so hard to be sassy and fresh and sexy. It does not have the usual surname-name-on-a-girl problem of sounding like what guys call one another in locker rooms. It just sounded sort of gimmicky. It gives me a sort of spiffy, yet smoothed-down and self-effacing, impression.
When my daughter was a baby, the first "mom"-friend I made had a baby daughter named Matison. That made me relent a lot towards the name. She called her Mati (Maddie, basically). Now I think it's a decent girl name - a fad that's over and not my style, but not unpleasant. I think of it in a category similar to Robin and Amber and Kelsey and Brittany and Whitney and Taylor - fad names that were "all new" as girlnames. I never understood why people don't object to, say, Taylor on a girl as much as they seem to object to Madison on a girl. Unless they remember Splash, too.
I've only heard of any boys or men named Madison, after I heard it as a baby-girl name. I think it's suitable for them too, but it's like it's a different name when it's used for boys. Madison for a girl = fad name like Brittany; Madison for a boy = typical surname name.
I don't like Maddie either. That's the reason I struck Madeline off my list forever. It was the first name my husband suggested (and he suggested it out of the blue before we were even married, oddly) but I can't stomach "Maddie." It sounds sort of homely to me, like "Bev" for Beverly or "Steph" for Stephanie or "Trisha" for Patricia. It seems to me that familiar forms are almost always used in this culture, and you have to stick your neck out a little to reject them - so if I don't like a common short form of a name, I can't really like the name itself.
Just for fun ... other names I would like the full form of, but that I'd never use because of nicknames
Lucinda
Patrick
James (like Jamie, hate Jim)
Edward
William
Stephanie
Robert
Albert
Roberta
Alberta
Kenneth
Sabrina
Tabitha
Catherine
Patricia
Winifred
Frederick
Francesca
Natalie
Bradley
Douglas
Dominic (Dom - I think Nic from Dominic is artificial)
When my daughter was a baby, the first "mom"-friend I made had a baby daughter named Matison. That made me relent a lot towards the name. She called her Mati (Maddie, basically). Now I think it's a decent girl name - a fad that's over and not my style, but not unpleasant. I think of it in a category similar to Robin and Amber and Kelsey and Brittany and Whitney and Taylor - fad names that were "all new" as girlnames. I never understood why people don't object to, say, Taylor on a girl as much as they seem to object to Madison on a girl. Unless they remember Splash, too.
I've only heard of any boys or men named Madison, after I heard it as a baby-girl name. I think it's suitable for them too, but it's like it's a different name when it's used for boys. Madison for a girl = fad name like Brittany; Madison for a boy = typical surname name.
I don't like Maddie either. That's the reason I struck Madeline off my list forever. It was the first name my husband suggested (and he suggested it out of the blue before we were even married, oddly) but I can't stomach "Maddie." It sounds sort of homely to me, like "Bev" for Beverly or "Steph" for Stephanie or "Trisha" for Patricia. It seems to me that familiar forms are almost always used in this culture, and you have to stick your neck out a little to reject them - so if I don't like a common short form of a name, I can't really like the name itself.
Just for fun ... other names I would like the full form of, but that I'd never use because of nicknames
Lucinda
Patrick
James (like Jamie, hate Jim)
Edward
William
Stephanie
Robert
Albert
Roberta
Alberta
Kenneth
Sabrina
Tabitha
Catherine
Patricia
Winifred
Frederick
Francesca
Natalie
Bradley
Douglas
Dominic (Dom - I think Nic from Dominic is artificial)
This message was edited 1/5/2013, 10:43 AM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
How is the character insulting? It's been a while since I've seen that movie.
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She's supposed to be totally naive and childlike, except for the way she throws herself at the Hanks character ... and she gets confined to a giant fishtank. I meant that it's insulting as a namesake ... it's so shallow, I'd be grossed out if I were named Madison and found out it was inspired directly by the character.
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Of course she's naive and childlike- where's she supposed to learn about human life, from watching tv at the bottom of the ocean? She's exploring her new surroundings like anyone else who is new. Usually, it's children doing that.
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Yeah, however it was a deliberate choice to portray her in a particular way ... having her macking on Hanks at first sight, then walking around naked in public and causing a sensation and not understanding why, and then being placed in bondage. The mermaid wasn't an interesting character, she was a recognizable standard character in a basically erotic fantasy tale.
I don't mean I have a big problem with the story. It's what it is, it's not a bad thing, I enjoyed the film alright. It's the idea of a baby being named after that character, considering that the name is novel and was a little edgy at the time in a way, that gives me the willies.
I don't mean I have a big problem with the story. It's what it is, it's not a bad thing, I enjoyed the film alright. It's the idea of a baby being named after that character, considering that the name is novel and was a little edgy at the time in a way, that gives me the willies.
This message was edited 1/6/2013, 11:32 AM
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Yeah, I agree with you. I guess people get annoyed with the fairy tale quality of the story, but I always thought there was more to it than that. I like the fact that the Tom Hanks character is just of average Joe instead of a sophisticated character himself, so they're both fish out of water in that regard, no pun intended. I also like how he agrees to live in her world at the very end. In a lesser movie, they would have kept Madison in the human world. YMMV.
This message was edited 1/6/2013, 10:14 AM
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You gave me an idea for a new thread :)
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